Not going to give any opinions on the topic or try to start a fight. I'm just putting this here as a sort of "current events" post. I would be kind of interested to hear from TN and GA masons though as to whether there is any validity to this.

There is a blurry copy on blogspot.com of the GA edict. It bothers me when reading the Edict. The fact that the morals being cited as being derived from the father of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is troubling to me. That is a bold statement for a GM to make given our Tolerance to religion. Then again, I'm speaking from the viewpoint of a Yank.

What bothers me about this, and I'll keep my personal views to myself, is the image we present (assuming this is true). Today's youth, who are the ones we hope will join our fraternity one day don't see the world the way our grandfathers did. Their support of LGBT, women's rights, and racial equality is a way of life. Being a fraternity mean's we have an exclusively male membership. This can very easily be misconstrued by the neophyte as meaning we don't like women. as ridiculous as they may sound to us, it is part of our public perception. Race and LGBT issues are huge right now both publically and politically. To make such declarations in this day in age is, at the very least, counter-productive.

That is a bold statement for a GM to make given our Tolerance to religion.

Incase you forgot about this Steve...

http://forum.mastermason.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=12420

It's the PHA Grand Master in the thread that link points to, but it's still Georgia.

Unfortunately, it has been my observation that some Brothers of a certain religion don't actually embrace and practice the tolerance that Freemasonry teaches...but only pretend to. And equally unfortunate... I have heard it said by some Brothers that they consider their lodge to be an extension of their church. (Which it is NOT!)

Unfortunately, these Brothers have missed the point, and perhaps even more unfortunate...they sometimes achieve Masonic office of leadership without having ever been sufficiently enlightened to do so.

Edited by Adept? - September/17/2015 at 7:33am

"It is humanity that creates god, and men think that god has made them in his image, because they make him in theirs."

What bothers me about this, and I'll keep my personal views to myself, is the image we present (assuming this is true). Today's youth, who are the ones we hope will join our fraternity one day don't see the world the way our grandfathers did. Their support of LGBT, women's rights, and racial equality is a way of life. Being a fraternity mean's we have an exclusively male membership. This can very easily be misconstrued by the neophyte as meaning we don't like women. as ridiculous as they may sound to us, it is part of our public perception. Race and LGBT issues are huge right now both publically and politically. To make such declarations in this day in age is, at the very least, counter-productive.

Agreed. If we want to grow (attract new members) we must understand that the views on homosexuality is much different with younger people. I am very conservative in my views but if a gay man would petition either of my lodges I would not consider his sexual orientation when balloting.

By way of background I spent time in Washington D.C. during the Watergate period and have always been interested in that subject One of the books I read was Witness to Power by John Erlichman. He had some interesting things to say about J. Edgar Hoover so I did some reading about him. From what I have been able to glean, there has never been any conclusive proof that Hoover was a homosexual. He was close friends with Clyde Tolson, Deputy Director of the FBI and also a Mason. They ate meals together, vacationed together and attended functions together, and Hoover left his entire estate to him. Mark Felt, the number 3 man at the FBI and "Deepthroat" of Watergate fame, states that their relationship was never sexual. Others say it was.

As far as cross-dressing goes, there is a story that Hoover put on his mother's dress after she died. There is also a picture of Hoover wearing a dress to substantiate that he was a cross-dresser, but I have read that this was for a masquerade party he went to. Years ago, it was common for men to dress in women's clothes as a gag, Milton Berle and The Three Stooges come immediately to mind.

I think the consensus is that he was definitely not a cross-dresser and inconclusive as to whether he was gay.

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